E-cigarette usage nearly doubles in U.S. high-schools

Desk FnF: E-cigarette usage nearly doubles in U.S. high-schools: surveyThe percentage of high school seniors who used e-cigarettes in the last 30 days nearly doubled to 20.9 percent from last year, results of a survey released by the National Institute on Drug Abuse showed on Monday. The increase in vaping by 10th and 12th graders was the largest year-over-year jump for any substance ever measured by the survey, which started 44 years ago.

It’s still hard for dads to talk about condoms with sonsMany boys want their fathers to be the ones to talk to them about condoms. But a new study offers fresh evidence of all the ways these conversations can be complicated and leave young men without a clear picture of how to have safe sex. Researchers did in-depth interviews with 25 African American or Latino father-son pairs, all of whom lived in a New York City neighborhood where teen pregnancy rates and cases of sexually transmitted infections are much higher than the national average.

J&J moves to limit impact of Reuters report on asbestos in Baby PowderJohnson & Johnson on Monday scrambled to contain fallout from a Reuters report that the healthcare conglomerate knew for decades that cancer-causing asbestos lurked in its Baby Powder, taking out full-page newspaper ads defending its product and practices, and readying its chief executive for his first television interview since investors erased tens of billions of dollars from the company’s market value. J&J shares fell nearly 3 percent Monday, closing at $129.14 in New York Stock Exchange trading. That drop was on top of the 10 percent plunge that wiped out about $40 billion of the company’s market capitalization following the Reuters report Friday. J&J also announced Monday that it would be repurchasing up to $5 billion of its common stock.

Serious kidney injury common during cancer chemotherapyNearly one in 10 cancer patients treated with chemotherapy or newer targeted drugs may be hospitalized for serious kidney injury, a Canadian study suggests. The study involved roughly 163,000 patients who started chemotherapy or targeted therapies for a new cancer diagnosis in Ontario from 2007 to 2014. Overall, 10,880 were hospitalized with serious kidney damage or for dialysis.

Friday report cards tied to higher risk of child abuseKids who bring home report cards on Fridays may be more likely to experience child abuse afterward than kids who get their grades on other days, a U.S. study suggests. Researchers examined data on report card release dates at elementary schools and 1,943 cases of physical abuse called into a child abuse hotline over one academic year and verified by Florida’s child welfare agency.

One in four U.S. parents unprepared for holiday hangoverWhile most parents heading out for alcohol-infused holiday parties will have arranged for child care while they’re out and for transportation back home in case they become tipsy, one in four won’t have put much thought into how they’ll handle the kids if they have a hangover the next morning, a U.S. survey suggests. The nationally representative survey, which included responses from 1,170 parents with at least one child up to age nine, also found that three in 10 parents said they knew of an adult who may have caused an unsafe situation for their child due to alcohol consumption at a holiday celebration.

New Zealanders to vote on legalizing recreational cannabis in 2020New Zealanders will decide whether to legalize cannabis for recreational use in a referendum held during the 2020 general election, the country’s justice minister said on Tuesday. The referendum was among the promises made by Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party in a 2017 agreement that led to a coalition government with the Green and NZ First parties.

Evofem shares surge as contraceptive gel meets late-stage trial goalShares of Evofem Biosciences Inc jumped as much as 38 percent on Monday after its birth control gel showed effectiveness in a late-stage study, bringing the first hormone-free contraceptive close to approval. Male condoms and oral pills dominate the $5.5 billion contraceptive market in the United States. However, oral pills cause side effects such as bleeding between periods, mood swings and nausea in women.